An ex-New Yorker living in San Francisco – eating everything in sight. A food blog for local restaurant reviews.

Cheap Eats

What:

Mazzola Bakery @MazzolaBakery A few blocks of the main Court Street drag of Cobble Hill is a tiny, jam-packed, take-out only, old-school sweet and savory baked goods shop called Mazzola Bakery. There's a huge variety of baked treats available, but I'll be honest, I've only ever had a single item from Mazzola, but it's sort of thing I dream about that I'll buy multiples extras of the bring back home on my flight.

Where:

When:

Seriously, I could be in the mood for this item literally any day – any time of day. I'd also like to mention that it's particularly good at soaking up a hangover. Just cross your fingers that they're not already sold out when you visit.

It's a strange concept. Take a dish that is naturally light, fresh, delicate, and dainty — supersize it — and throw as many crunchy, creamy, fusiony ingredients as you can into it. What do you get? A sushirrito. Even before I had moved to San Francisco, Sushirrito was already near the top of my SF must-eat list. There was just something about that super-hyped, unusual sushi-burrito hybrid that I just couldn't resist trying for myself. Yes, I know the concept sounds a little ridiculous — why would anyone want to shove sushi ingredients into a burrito format. And yes, I know that the Japanese have already mastered the supersized sushi form through handrolls. But, I do love sushi and I do love burritos, so I was curious enough to find out if this Bay Area combined evolution of the two would form a recipe for success.

What:

Harold's NY Deli An old-school NY-style sit-down delicatessen serving monstrous portions of all of the Jewish classics. I'm by no means the first to speak the praised of the place - it's been written about all over the place including in Saveur, the New York Times, as well as a feature on Man vs. Food. And yes, it's worthy of all of the hype.

Where:

In a parking lot off of the highway in Edison, NJ
1171 King Georges Post Rd. Edison, NJ 08837
[wpgmza id="296"]

When:

For when you feel like shoving more Jewish comfort food down your gullet than should be humanly possible.

What:

Panuchos Let's name all the Mexican dishes you're used to finding in restaurants. Tacos, burritos, nachos, tortas, quesadillas, flautas, tostadas, etc, etc, etc. I bet we could go on and on and on. But, how about a "panucho"? Ever heard of that? I certainly hadn't before this meal, but I'll get more into that later. Near the corner of Broadway and Columbus, right where Italian North Beach meet Chinese Chinatown, a brand new eatery recently opened. That's where a tiny shop that formally housed a divey Vietnamese restaurant called Vietnam was and where this Yucatan-region Mexican specialist, Panuchos, is now housed. In my observations, the clientele consists mostly of blue-collar Spanish-speaking workers in the area — which I take as a positive indicator of the authenticity of food made at the place. I guess you'll just have to read more to see.

Where:

On the border of North Beach and Chinatown
620 Broadway San Francisco, CA 94133
[wpgmza id="295"]

When:

Great for a solo lunch at the counter, take out, but probably even best for a late-night bite to soak up all of your boozy North Beach mistakes. They're open til 3 AM!

What:

Parkway Bakery and Tavern @ParkwayPoorboys This bar and restaurant is quite old, very famous, and generally regarded as the ultimate place to go for the very best poboys in NOLA.

Where:

Midcity
538 Hagan Ave. New Orleans, LA 70119
[wpgmza id="290"]

When:

This is the kind of place that's perfect for any time you need a big, cheap, hearty sandwich full of greasy meat and deep-fried seafood to crush an epic Bourbon Street hangover. It's a bit out of the way, so you'll probably need a car to get all the way out there unless you want to splurge on a long cab ride. This place is known to generate long lines, though we were fortunately able to get food in hand in just about 15 minutes after our arrival. So, come only when you've got a bit of patience in case you encounter a longer line.

In the city of New Orleans, there are two contenders vying for the enviable title of most iconic sandwich. Sure, the Po' Boy gets a majority of the attention with its vast variety of fillings and multitude of shops specializing in the dish (which all claim to serve the very best). But, for my money (and belly), I'd argue that the Muffuletta should be the NOLA specialty sandwich torch bearer.

Yes, I know this year-end list is beyond belated. Actually, I'm probably over a month late. Normally, I'm not one to make these kinds of excuses, but my life has been pretty hectic lately. As you may or may not know, I'm getting married in a couple of months, so my time has recently come at an extreme premium and I haven't been able to commit as much attention as I'd like to this little publication obsession. With that being said, over the next couple of months, I'll be playing around with post style and formatting a bit in an attempt to find new ways to rapidly pump out awesome food articles with fewer publishing limitations on my end. Please feel free to give me feedback on the new content — I'm planning to review this little experiment in a few months and we can take it from there.

On the long drive between Paso Robles and San Francisco, there's not a whole lot of viable places to stop at for a good meal on the road. The 101 is the most efficient route, but it'll still take approximately three hours from start to finish. Before embarking on the drive back from the wonderfully quaint wine town of Paso Robles, we knew wanted to grab a quick meal close to town before really hitting the road. A brief bit of online exploration led me to a place that showed potential for a quick meal. Just a 10-minute drive north of downtown Paso Robles, just off of the 101, there's a dusty little nothing town called San Miguel. In this practically non-existent town, I read about a place with a 4-star Yelp rating that included many stories characterized by its local charm. We had high hopes that The County Diner, a lonely eatery in this desolate trapped-in-time town, would serve as a great place to get a quick and filling breakfast before we headed towards home.

This, my friends is the future of fast food.Eatsa is the first eatery of its kind — a place where technology is being used wisely and effectively to produce food that is fresh, flavorful, reasonably priced, and — believe it or not — pretty darn healthy too. They've got it down to such as science that you pretty much don't even need to interact with a human throughout the entire experience if you don't want to. Hello, Eatsa. "Hello world."